Dreamland

Dreamland was a nation founded in the northwestern corner of the continent of Rilola by immigrants from the islands of Laba.

Language

The language was closely related to that of its enemy Kava. The proper name for their shared proto-language is Meromo.

Phonology

Consonants of proto-Dreamlandic

Labials:       /p b m f β w/
Alveolars:     /t d n s l ř/
Postalveolars: /č ǯ ñ š j/
Velars:        /k ŋ/

Note that /ŋ/ was realized as nasalization of the preceding vowel except before a stop consonant, in which case it assimilated to that consonant. Thus, the sound [ŋ] is actually very rare.

Unlike the closely related Kava, the voiced stops /b d ǯ/ were preserved. However, there was no corresponding voiced velar stop /ġ/.

Vowels of proto-Dreamlandic

/a e i o u/

There is a four-way contrast of à/ă/ā/á for tones, although á is rare.

Early depalataization

The palatals /č ǯ ñ š/ changed to /k ŋ ŋ f/ before the back vowel [u], and to the coronals /t n s/ elsewhere. This new /ŋ/ was a true sound, unlike the old ŋ which merely nasalized the preceding vowel, even between two vowels. However, this new sound proved more stable, and the only ŋ also became a true velar nasal. Note that the /f/ above can be considered a variant of |h| but that this language simply did not have an /h/.

Then, /β/ > /v/ unconditionally. (A spelling change for convenience, not a true sound change.)

Geography and wildlife

Dreamland's climate is ideal for human habitation. However, it is among the least densely populated areas of the planet for humans because it is also the ideal climate for many species that prey on humans.

Chief among these is the firebird, a close relative of the seagull which in recent evolutionary history evolved from a fish-based diet to a diet consisting almost entirely of land animals, including humans. Firebirds are ambush predators, preferring to remain out of sight, hidden by shelter or other natural formations, and then swoop on a human from behind. Once contact is made, the firebird will push the human to the ground and then incapacitate the human by biting off a hand or other vulnerable body part. In most cases, the human will bleed to death without effectively fighting back against the firebird, but if the human is armed or simply too strong to be killed right away, the firebird can quickly retreat to safety and attempt a second attack when its human prey is further weakened by blood loss and other injuries.

Firebirds mostly stay close to the seacoast despite their diet, as the high temperatures of the interior will quickly exhaust them. But humans are not safe inland either because the interior of Dreamland is home to several other predators who hunt humans, such as pigs, desert wolves, and wildcats. There are also eagles, who hunt humans in a very similar manner to the firebirds near the coast, but humans are not their preferred prey.

Off the north coast of Dreamland, humans are even more vulnerable, because they are preyed upon by sharks and other fish, as well as, to a lesser extent, by seals and other land mammals. Firebirds are also known to travel miles out to sea, using their keen eyesight to spot humans on their watercraft from the distant shore. However, the ocean is also the primary food source for humans in Dreamland, even those living far inland, and therefore humans on boats are keenly aware of their predators and will put up a ferocious struggle to survive an attack by any of the aforementioned animals. Dreamers generally build themselves large boats with sheltered areas into which they can retreat should they be attacked by a firebird. Seals generally hunt by ramming their bodies through the lower deck of the humans' boats, to which the human response is to use their fishing spears to fight back against the seal.

Politics and government

Dreamland was an explicitly political nation: rather than being founded on the basis of membership in a particular tribe or belief in a particular religion, people living in Dreamland were made to agree to certain political beliefs.